Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw on potential free agency next winter: It’s good to have options

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Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws to the plate against the Houston Astros in the first inning of game one of a World Series baseball game at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/SCNG)

LOS ANGELES – A shadow will follow the Dodgers throughout 2018, one that might cause a chill to go up their collective spine if they stop and think about it – Clayton Kershaw could leave.

The seven-year, $215-million contract extension Kershaw signed four years ago this month includes an opt-out clause that could allow the Dodgers’ ace and three-time Cy Young Award winner to become a free agent following the 2018 season. That possibility looms large in the Dodgers’ future plans but not Kershaw’s current thoughts — at least as far as he wants you to know.

“I think the great thing about having an option is that it’s an option. It’s not really a decision,” Kershaw said to reporters at the Dodgers’ Community Tour event Friday. “I think, for me, it’s just go out, try and pitch, be healthy, and then if I have option at the end of the year, great. … So I’ve got to stay healthy every fifth day.

“Everything will take care of itself from there. There might be a decision but at the end of the day I’ve just got to go pitch. Figure it out from there.”

That has not been as simple for Kershaw the past two seasons as he makes it sound. He has missed time each year with recurring back injuries. A healthy season at age 30 (he’ll celebrate that milestone in March) would certainly re-assert his market value should he decide to leave the final $65 million of his deal with the Dodgers on the table.

Kershaw has taken note of the stagnant free-agent market this winter. However, he anticipates a definite thaw next winter when he could potentially join one of the most talented groups of free agents in baseball history. That group might include Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Josh Donaldson, Charlie Blackmon and more. That group’s allure – and the punitive measures installed with the most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement – has motivated big spenders like the Dodgers and New York Yankees to take a vow of austerity this winter and get under the luxury-tax threshold.

“I think it’ll change next off-season though, right?” Kershaw said. “Just the three or four teams that are trying to get under that threshold will be technically under that threshold. You would think that would change some things. Like I said, there’s so many factors, you can’t really pinpoint why the way it is the way it is this year. There’s a lot of theories, people talking about different things. At the end of the day I think every market’s just going to be different and next year might be different than this one.”

Kershaw also scoffed at the idea that the uncertainty over his future will create any distraction for him.

“There is no noise,” he said. “We were one game short of winning the World Series. That’s my only focus. That won’t change.”

NOTES

Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi said he does not expect top prospect Walker Buehler to open the season in the Dodgers’ starting rotation. Buehler had Tommy John surgery immediately after being drafted in 2015 and pitched only 98 innings last season, his first full season as a professional. The Dodgers will look to limit his workload in 2018. “We’ll look to maximize his impact over the full season,” Zaidi said. … Zaidi said the Dodgers continue to “have conversations” with unsigned free agent Chase Utley who has worked out at Dodger Stadium this winter. … On the possibility of re-signing another unsigned free agent, Yu Darvish, Zaidi said, “There would be some hurdles for us to add any significant contracts at this point.” … Julio Urias is optimistic that he can return from shoulder surgery and pitch at some point in 2018. But he is not expected to have progressed far enough to throw off a mound at any point during spring training. “There is a goal (for his return) but I don’t think about that,” Urias said through an interpreter Saturday. “I think about the day-to-day and the pain and whether it’s not hurting.” Urias said he is feeling “very healthy.”

Bill Plunkett has covered everything from rodeo to Super Bowls to boxing (yeah, I was there the night Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield's ear off) during a career that started far too long ago to mention and eventually brought him to the OC some time last century (1999 actually). He has been covering Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register since 2003, spending time on both the Angels and Dodgers beats.